Power transmitting means



Sept. 29, 1931.

J` L. CREVELING POWER TRANSMITTING MEANS Original Fled June 16r 1934Patented Sept. 29, 1931 V Unirse sTA'rEs JOHN L. CREVELING, OF ORACLE,'RIZNI-l, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTSnTO @PATENT oFFicE SIMPLEXEQUIPMENT COMPANY, INC., OIE.\TE'YV`y YGRK, Yi, A `COltFORAJIl-ION OFDELAWARE POWER TRANsiviirTiiiG Means Application filed .Tune 16, 1924,Serial No. 720,25*?.v Renewed May2, 1930.

My invention pertainsto that class of power transmitting means wherein adriving member is connected to operate a driven member and which memberswill become automaticallv disconnected under certain prede-V terminedconditions. p

. As my invention is particularly applicable to a system wherein thedriving member is relatively very powerful and would upon suff ficientoverload or stoppage Aof the driven field, as will hereinafterbe morefully .point- Y' ed out. y

Inthe drawings, Fig; I is a partial elevation and partial section of oneform of power transmitting means comprehending an einbodiinent of myinvention.

Fig. II is a partial elevation and partial v section of a portion ofthe'structure of Fig. i

I, shown in a did'erent position of operation. Fig. III is a partialelevation andpartlal .section of a modified structurealso comprehendingan embodiment of my invention.

Referring particularly to FigsQI and II, 1 indicates a driving shaft, inthis instance chosen as a car-axle and, therefore, capable,

on account of the enormous weight of a car, of transmitting a great dealofpower under certain circumstances to be explained. 2 is a sleeve whichis indicated as split and having, at the left-hand end, expanded collarportions 3 provided with bosses 4 for vthe reception of bolts, notshown, whereby the twolialves of the sleeve lare clamped upon vthe axlel,

while the opposite end of the sleeve is proy K p .sleeve 5 is free to'revolve therein while the vided with expanded portions 10 havingsimisleeve 2 there ismounted a split sleeve 5 provided, at itsright-hand end, with an expanded portion indicated at 6,' this A.sleevebeing shown as split at right-angles to the direc-'i` are in thepositions indicated in the drawings.

bosses, as` indicated in dotted lines at 7,

vthrough which bolts are passed to clamp the -two halves of the sleevetogether. The opposite end of the said sleeve 5 is provided with tionfofthe split of sleeve 2 when the sleeves an expandedportion or clutchmember 8,*and Y the two halves are held together at this end `by boltspassing through bosses as indicated.;

at 9.y The sleeve 5is so bored as to be freely revolvable upon thesleeve 2,`while it is restrained frein movement in a right-lianddirection by the expanded portion 10, and in a left-hand direction bythe shoulder upon the Y.sleeve 2, indicated in dotted lines at ll. l2 isa gear mounted upon the sleeve 5 to revolve therewith and, in thisinstance, is indicated as a split bevel gear, Vone-half of which hasbeen removed,` it being obvious that the twoNA halves may be clampedupon the sleeve 5 by boits passing through the boltholes indicatedvinthe gear l2. While Vthe gear l2 may be vconnected in any suitablemanner so as to operate a driven means, it is, in this instance,

indicated, for purpose of illustration, as being connected therewith bya power transmitting means previously invented by me and the subject ofa co-p'ending application, which structure is particularly applicable tothis.

-t i 'e of ower-transmittino means. In this b particular type of powertransmitting means the bevel jgear l2 drives a horizontal bevel gearindicated at 13, free to revolve upon a shaft indicated at 14, carriedby a fixed sleeve or collar l5, supported by a heavy web 16 castintegrally withV a housing member 19 Vwhich restsupon the sleeve 5 as bysuitable bearing portions shownV in section at 17 and I8; rFlieseportions extend'half way aroundy the, sleeve 5, beginning and ending ina horizontal plane," and are so arranged thatthe displacement, in themanner indicated. Y The gear 13 has attachedl thereto or formed ,iii-

SOY

' tegrally therewith a bevel gear 20, indicated l mostlyin dotted lines,engaging a bevel pinvionj2l.attached to the shaft 22so as to re-vstantially at right-angles to the axle l.

volve the said shaft upon revolution of the axle l. The pinion 2l iscarried within the housing 23, provided with an extension or neck 2athrough which the shaft 22 passes and within which it is free to revolvein any suitable type of bearings.V The extension 24 is indicated assurrounded by a slip tube 25, for a purpose to be explained. 26indicates a shell or housing for the' lower portion of the gearv 12 andis provided with bearing portions extending half way around the shaft land forms, with the housing '19, Vasplit housing preferably heldtogether by bolts, not shown, and, with the housing portion`23, entirelyencloses the gear mechanism and serves as a receptacle for lubricantwhereby the gears are automatically lubricated, and also serves to keepdirt, dust and 'other foreign matter from interfering with the operationof the gears as well as acting as a silencer during high speedoperation. The upper portion or shell member' 23 is so ar- -ranged as tobe free to revolve about the shaft 14e and center line of gears 13and20, as upon the line 27, and when in operation the housing member 23and parts connected therewith, including the shaft 22, neck 24 and tube25, are all revolved substantially 90o from the positions indicated inthe drawing, and the shaftr22 thus occupies a position sub- 'Iherefore,when the shaft 22 and thetube 25 are united with a generator or othermecha-V nisin to be driven, Vsuitably suspended from the'underframingofthe car, the said shaft 22 and tube 25 restrain'the entire housing fromrotating with the axle l; and,'if gear l2 be revolved with the said axle1, the shaft 22 will 'drive the generator and the sleeve 5 will revolvewithin the bearing portionsof Y, the housing 19-26. Upon the left-handportion of the sleeve 2 there is mounted a member comprising the sleeve28 and theclutcli member 9, which is preferably formed inv two halvesunited by bolts passing through theholes shown in the bosses 30. rlhisclutch member isadapted to engage the clutch mem- `ber 3, as shown inthe drawings, and is free to move laterally 'upon the sleeve 2 exceptwhen held into engagement with the member 8 by the action of the block32 pressing against the block 3l forming'a part of the clutch 'member29, as shown more plainly in Fig. II

in which the portions indicated are shown as n revolved 90O from thepositions shown in Fig.

I and in which a portion of the'bloc'lr3l is shown in section as therest thereof isremoved I for sake of clearness. The block 32 is pro-'vided with guides shown in the form of rods at'33 which pass throughslip holes in the boss j 3elfupon the expanded portion' 3 of the sleevevr2. 35 is a screw, threaded into the boss 34 and tion 3 of the sleeve 2and Vrotating therewith shown, will cause the sleeve 5 to revolve withstantly disconnect the clutch member 29 from I and carries at its upperextremity the tension-adjusting screw 37 engaging one end of the spring38, the opposite end of which is connected as by member 39 with theclutch member 29. 'Ihe springs indicated at 40 tend to move the clutchmember 29 in a left-hand direction and disengage the clutch member 8,while they are restrained from so doing when the parts voccupy thepositions indicated in V.F igs. I and II by the block 32 pressingagainst the block 3l and holding the clutch members engaged.

kAn operation of my invention, as illustrated in Figs. I and II, issubstantially as follows:

With the shaft 22 and housing 23 revolved, for example, in theneighborhood of 90 degrees towards the observer and restrained fromrevolution about the axle l as when united with a dynamo to drive thesame as above described, if the axle l be revolved in either directionthe sleeve 2 and its expanded portions 3 and 10 and extension 36 willrevolve therewith, as'they may all be considered as one part, fixed uponthe axle. This will cause the clutch member 29 to be revolved with thesleeve 2 through the instrumentality of the spring 38, and the clutchmember 29 being engaged with the clutch member 8, as

the axle l and sleeve 2; AThis will cause the bevel'gearl2to revolve,which in turn, by revolving the-gears 13-20-21 and shaft 22,will-operate the dynamo so longas the same Yfunctions properly. If,however, the dyna-v mo armature should become stalled or any accidenttend to stop any of the gears connected with the sleeve 5 so'. astocause a predetermined overloading of the spring 38', the same willstretch and allow the sleeve 2 and itsv expanded portion 3 and the arm36 to rotate l against the spring tension with respect to the clutchmember 29; whereupon the block 32 will slide upon the block 31 and afterpassing the edgeof the samefin either direction, dene pending upon thedirection of rotation of the axle l, block 32 will cease to hold theclutch member 29 in engagement with the clutch member 8; whereupon thesprings 40 will inthe member 8 and allow thesleeve 2 to freely revolvewithin the sleeve 5 where it will thus continue to revolve freely untilthe trouble which has caused the driving members to b ecome over-loadedork stopped is, removed and the clutch member 29 again caused to en-,gage with the clutch member 8, which is readily accomplished bybaclring out the screw 35 lso that the block 32 no longer interfereswith av manual rotation of .the clutch member l28e-29 upon the sleeve 2and engagement with lthejclutch member 8; whereupon'the screw 35 may beagain caused to push the block 32 into v the place shown in the drawingswhere it will hold the clutch members 29 and 8 engaged "ri-i until anover-load is again thrown upon the driving spring 38 suticient tocauseit to allow relative displacement enough between 32 and 31 that 32no longer holds the clutch member 29 in engagement with theclutch'member 8; whereupon it will be withdrawn immediately by thesprings Ll and all damage due to the Sudden over-loading or stoppage ofthe driven parts prevented. While the sleeve 2 is revolving within thesleeve 5, these parts may be readily lubricatedby the oil previous.-

lyl thrown by the revolution ofthe gear l2 when the same was operating,which oil iowing down the sides of the housing 19 will enter thepassages as indicated at al and 42. It will be obvious that that portionof the sleeve 2 indicated between the lines A-B or any of the centralportion approximating this length Ymay be omitted if desired, and thenthe sleeve 5 will be supported by such portions ofthe sleeve 2 as may beleft extending within the same; and, by adoptingthe construction Yshownin Fig. III wherein like numerals indicate like parts, the sleeve 2 maybe omitted entirely, with the exception of that part on the left-handside of the clutch member 8 which is used for a mounting for the clutchmember 29 and also serves to drive the arm 3S and parts connectedtherewith. Vith this construction, when the clutch members are- Ywhen somountedprovides a true cylindrical surface to form a bearing for theVsleeve 5. Further, it will be noted that, if desired, at any time, thescrew may be backed out and then springs will withdraw the clutchmember29 from the clutch member 8 and leave the sleeve 5 free to'revolveupon the sleeve 2 in case one desires to run the generator as a motorfortesting purposes, as is often useful in practice; and this will not onlyshow that the motor is operating all right but that the driving gear isfunctioning properly as welk rIhen, taking up the screw 35 will againcause the block 32 to pressagainst the i block 3l against the action ofsprings 40 and engage the clutchmembers in their driving relationship,as shown 1n the drawings. It

will also be obvious that any suitable num-V ber of blocks 32-31 andscrews 35 may be used, if properly placed', and that a plurality of saidsets of blocks will overcome the tendency of canting of the clutchmember 29 in- -cident to the use of one set of blocks, shown in thedrawings for sake of simplicity.

From the foregoingit will be noted that I have produced a powertransmitting means ."2 particularly applicable in the art of carlightingor for use in any' environment where it is desirous that the drivingmeans shall bedisengaged when an over-load or suddenv stoppage ofthedriven parts takes-place, and V that while operating in the normalmanner170 the power is transmittedfthrough aj resilient connectionrelievingthe driven parts or they driving parts, as the case maybe, fromsudden strains due to suddenstopping and'startn g of a driving meanswhich may connect parts possessed of considerable inertia, and,therefore, my power transmitting means relieves the `gear teeth as wellas the other parts of i the driving mechanism of the sudden shocksincident to sudden applications of the carbrakes and skidding of thewheels or the shocks incident to the severe bumpingl that cars sufferduring stopping' and starting and Y yard switching. And` it will furtherbe ob- M vious that my invention, while providing a*8'5 positive drivingconnection between a caraxle,`for example, and a dynamo upon `the car,eliminates one of the most serious drawbacks to this type of`connection, which re- M sides in the fact that, with any of the usualoorigid gear connections with the axle, if any of the bearings of thedriven members should happen to heat and set7 or the dynamo armaturehappen to become stalled, the entire mechanism is apt to be wrecked andcausec wrecking `of the train,`l as such 'a driving structure cannot bemade, in practice, suflivciently strong lto stop the rotation of thecar-axle when the car is in motion; while inH my present structure asevere over-load upon"- the driven mechanism simply causes disengagementof the same from the axle -without damage.

I do not in any way limit myself to any of the constructions shown ordescribed or'ios to the exact modes of operation outlined above, for itis obvious that widedeparture may be made in the way-of construction oftheapparatus as well as in the mode of op-F` eration without departingfrom the spiritio and scope of my invention whichis las set forth inthefollowing claims: Y

1. The combination with a reversible driving member, a clutch member,resilient means operatively connecting said members, andriw asecondclutch member in positive engagement with said first-named clutch memberand driven thereby in a pluralityof ldirections, of means forautomatically eifectingu thev disengagement of said clutch members when,the load Kupon' said" resilient means reaches a predetermined value. Yl Y 2. The combination with a drivingmember, a clutch member andresilient means operatively connecting the same, ay second3`l25 clutchmember adaptedy to engage with'the first-mentioned clutch f memberthroughout rotation in a plurality of Ydirections and means tending todisengage saidv clutch memf bers, of meansffor' maintaining said'membersc in engagement throughout ai predetermined load upon theresilient means and permitting disengagement of saidk members when saidload is exceeded.

3.k The combination with a driving meinber subject to reversal, aLclutch member and means operatively connecting the same and Vpermittingrelative displacement therebe- Ysubject to reversal, a clutch member andmeans operatively connecting the same and permitting relativedisplacement therebetween upon changes in load transmitted thereby, asecond clutch member engaged by the first-mentioned clutch member, andmeans tending to disengage said clutch members, of means for maintainingsaid members engaged throughout reversals in direction of powertransmitted andvpermitting disengagement thereof under predeterminedconditions of said displacement. Y

y5. Means for connecting a reversible source of power with ^powerutilizing means, compreliending positively connected members fortransmitting power in a plurality of directions .andadapted to becomeautomatically disconnected without breakage under predeterminedconditions independently of the direction of power transmission, andresilient vmeansgdirectly transmittingthe power and determining theconditions of disconnection.

6. Power transmitting means subject to reversal comprehending positivelyconnected meansand means for always automatically causing disconnectionthereof without brezil*- -age under predetermined conditions,'comprisiiig resilient means directly carrying the load. Y Y

7.V Means for connecting a reversible source of power with powerutilizing means includ.n

- ing positively connected means, means for always automatically causingdisconnection thereof without breakage under predetermined conditions ofload, and resilient means directly carrying the load determining theconditions. f

. 8. Means for connecting a reversible source of power with powerutilizing means inciuding a driving member. subject to reversal, amember toberdriven thereby in a plurality Voi directions, interveningpower. transmitting `means connecting ,the sameincluding clutch membersthe engagement of which is alone .unaffected load, automatic means forcausfing disengagementthereof without breakage under predeterminedconditions, and resilient means directly connecting one of saidVv clutchmemberswith the driving member.

members alone incapable iof disengagement by y Power transmitting meanscomprehendinga. driving member'subject to reversal, a member to bedriven thereby in a plurality of directions, intervening powertransmitting means connecting the same including clutci load, automaticlmeans for causing disengagement thereof ywithout breakage underpredetermined conditions of load and -resilient means directly carryingthe load.

ing means and means to'be driven thereby in a plurality of directions,of intervening power transmitting means comprehending positivelyconnected clutch mechanism adapted to become automatically disengagedwithout breakage under predetermined conditions regardless of directionof movement of the driving means,'including afspring directlycarryingthe power transmitted and` ail'ecting the said conditions. e

11,. The combination with a driving shaft subject to reversal and meanscarried there by to be driven in a plurality of directions including apositivelylocked connection and, a resilient driving connection betweenthe same and said shaft, of means for terminating said locked connectionwithout breakage of the parts upon over-loading of said resilientconnection.

l2. In apparatus of the class de scribed,u`l"

means for connecting a driving axle subject to reversalin direction ofrotationwith a load to be driven thereby, including positively connected,clutch mechanism carriedA by the axle and a power measuring transmis-Ai sion connecting said aXle'with lsaid clutch mechanism to drive thesame in a plurality of directions and' adapted to always auto-`matically cause disconnection of said mecha- ,...v

nism without breakage upon sulicient .over" loading. f u n 13. Inapparatus of theV class described, means for connecting a reversibleaxle with a load to be driven in a. plurality oi directimis.A thereby,including -positively JOHN L.y cnnvELiNG.

connected clutch members of which one member is connected with the loadby positive driving

